Nihaar wrote me recently to ask: do we have to select criteria from the award lists, or can we propose our own new ones?
My answer was this: most people select from the award lists that were defined by experts, but a few people have proposed their own. You can propose any criteria you want, and then work with your group to develop a consensus.
Has anyone heard of Bhutan's famous "Gross National Happiness", which a previous king said was more important that Gross Domestic Product, the mainstay of capitalism?
It was defined with "four pillars" which give importance to non-economic measures of well-being, but lately it's been further broken down into 9 domains, which include:
- Psychological well-being
- Health
- Education
- Time use
- Cultural diversity and resilience
- Good governance
- Community vitality
- Ecological diversity and resilience
- Living standards
Would a measure of community vitality help evaluate a green city?
What do YOU think?
Brant